This film was initially classified R-15 in Japan (no one under 15 allowed), something that is mentioned several times in some of the extras. One of the extras is footage of the shooting of the basketball scene for the Special Edition. Six months after shooting the original, the cast members were reassembled to shoot some additional scenes and from this Fukasaku re-edited the film into the Special Edition, which is 8 minutes longer than the original. Some of the violence was removed or recut to obtain a lower censorship rating allowing persons under 15 to see the film.
The version on this DVD is the original uncut international version. There is also an original Japanese version, but I am not sure how it differs from the international version.